Sticks and stones may break your bones but they’re so darn beautiful… and heavy. I just spent the past hour outside at the side of my house digging up rocks to build a retaining wall. I keep finding huge slabs of rock just beneath the earth. I’m torn between adding them to my retaining wall or placing them in my Japanese garden. They seem too aesthetically perfect to place in a wall that won’t really be seen by many. Yet they’re the right size and shape for the wall. Sigh, what to do, what to do?
I am building a retaining wall so I can level the land next to our house. I want to put in a sidewalk so we can actually get to our backyard without tripping. Just a crazy, zany idea I had. Our budget doesn’t allow for backhoes, rock deliveries, or installations so I’m being resourceful. I’m in no way qualified so this shall be an interesting experiment. I’m hoping my wall will actually retain its shape and hold everything in place. We’ll see. As I told my husband, “you can’t complain, it’s free”.
Grass won’t really grow in this area so I’m hoping to find a good shade growing ground cover for this area. On my retaining wall I’m going to stuff moss and plants into the crevices of the rocks. I’m hoping that might beautify the space. Uh, maybe.
I’m also extending my vegetable garden to the back fence. It’s a process as our land really is dirt and lots and lots of rocks. A shovel almost always hits rock. Clearing the rocks in my original garden took forever. I call the process my “gym membership”. I line the garden with rocks as I unearth them.
As well, I’m extending my Japanese garden around a tree to make mowing easier. I’m hoping of installing a DIY suikinkutsu, which is a musical Japanese water instrument garden feature. Woah, I’m not sure of how to place the adjectives in that sentence! There’s a pot hidden in the ground with a tiny hole at the top surrounded by stones. You ladle water over the stones and the water makes a lovely sound as it drops to the ground. I was enchanted by one in Ozu, Japan way back in 1999. I just have to figure out how I’m going to put out water for ladling. I don’t want to install a fountain and I don’t want sitting water attracting mosquitoes. We’ll see.
I swear my garden will look better than this soon. This is just the beginning.
So I have a lot on the go considering I’m not a very knowledgeable gardener or handyman. Ha! My DIA (Doing It Anyway) attitude is genetic. My Grandma used to attempt to actualize all the creative ideas in her head. She passed it on to me. My Mom is the same way. I’m not giving up on my ideas even if they look a little rough at first.
In my next post, I’ll explain why I was out in my garden when I have so many tasks on my to-do list.
Melanie Ritchie 